Fish cleaning machine



Oct. 20, 1931. w. A. MULLER ET AL FISH CLEANING MACHINE Filed May 21. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 20, 1931. w. A. MULLERKET Al FISH CLEANING MACHINE I 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 21, 1929 Oct. 20, 1931. w. A. MULLER ET AL 1,828,725

FISH CLEANING MACHINE Filed May 21, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I Patented Oct. 20,1931

j TATES enmromvzm; A cOnronArroNoFitnw YORK I wEsLEY'n. 'MULLEB, oF M'o v'rnRnY, ANDTBUBT c.- YOUMANQOF sAN, rnnncisco, mm-p TFO-RNIA, nssreivonsmo CALIFORNIA rncxme CORPORATION, {OF sAN FRANCISCO,

FISH cnmnine Mncnritn Application m May {21,

1 vide a machine for cleaning fish in which there is provided means for cleaning the visceral cavities of the fish more completely and thoroughly than is accomplished by'the' fish cleaning machines now in use. w

The fish cleaning'machine of the. present invention" provides continuous conveyor upon whichfishfare' advanced to :a cutting knife or knives for removing'the heads and tails of the fish, and on the same conveyor the fish" are then presented to the visceral cavity cleaning members which are constructed to be automatically advanced 7 into the cavities of the fish and there operated to clean said cavities; The entrail removing members of themachine are generally in the form of slowly re volving' augers which operate on the entrails of the fish by entangling the'sameupon the auger-like members, so that the entrails of the fish are removed. uponthe retraction-0f the slowly revolving augerlike members from the visceral cavity ofthe fish. v I Prior to the invention" of thepresent ma-, chine, various methods of removing the entrails from the fish have been used, but such methods rely upon such schemesas removing the entrailsby suct1on,or removing the en- 7 trails by a wiping brush, or; removing the entrails by a rapidly revolving auger-like bit 46 inserted intothe cavities of thefish which operates mostly by principles of centrifugal force to commute, and simultaneously eject the entrails from the'fish, v Allsuch methods and means oficleaningfish incompletely clean the fish; 7 I

, By the method and apparatus oflthe pres: ent invention it is found. that byventangling the entrails upon aslowly'revolving auger-1 like member inserted into the" visceral'cavitiesof the fish and then slowly withdrawing the member while revolving the same; the enline l l of Figure '3.

'F1gure'5. 1

1 929. serial m'seem) trails may be bodily retracted from the fish- Y and. a very clean operation 'eliected.

:lihe present invention together with vari V ous further objects and advantages thereof 7 will be best understood'from a description of; a preferred form of fish cleaning machine embodying the invention, For this purpose; there is hereafter described the preferred form of the machine, the description being given in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a plan view. 4 V c Figure 2 is an elevation; 1 Figure 3 is a vertical sect'on onf'the line 3-3V.of Figure 52,:

Figure 4 is-a fragmentary section through the entrail driving mechanism taken on the F':gure 5 is a section on Figure l, and v Figure is a section on theline 66'of Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises a suitable frame 2, upon the ends of which are mounted bearings 3 andje of conveyor shafts 5' and 6,"respe ti e1y. The conveyor shaft 5mounts conveyor' sp 'rockets 7 and the conveyor shaft 6 mounts the conveyor sprockets 8. Trained over the conveyor sprocketsand Sisa continuous conveyor ;9' formed of individual cup-like members l0 which serve as holders for individual fish'to" be cleaned. The fish for the machine maybe placed in the individual fish holding members 10 by machine or by hand, In case the "fish are to be fed to themachine by mechanical means, the conveyor may be considerably shortened over'the illustration in Figures 1- andzh V I The machine inoperation is continuously driven by a belt pulley 11 which has an in-1 ter nittent drive connection with theF'conveyor 9. Said intermittent drive connection,

'is'formed as follows-: g g I The belt pulley 11; is mounted on a shaft 12 inbearings l3 supgorted'by the frame 226 The shaft 12 has an escapement drive with the conveyor shaft, said escapement drive is formed by a rotary caml lj mounted onpthe 1 conveyor shaft 6, which rotary 144s? provided with a plurality ofradial slots 15 which are adapted to be successively engaged and released by an operating pin 16 carried by a gear wheel 17 mounted on the pulley shaft 12. i j V The radial slots 15 on the cam 14 are positioned a distance apart, so that on each revolution of the operating pin 16 causes the pin to engage one of the slots 15 and rotate the cam 14 a partial revolution, releasing the cam and positioning a second succeeding slot where the operating pin will engage the same upon the start of its next revolution."

The escapement mechanism thus described causes the conveyor 9 to be advanced in operation. in a step by step motion in which the periods of advance are relatively short, compared with the periods of rest of the conveyor.

-There is also provided a further sprocket 18 on the front conveyor shaft 5 over which is trained a supplemental fish conveyor 19, the forward end of which .is trained over a sprocket 20 on a shaft jonrnaled in bearings 21 near the center part of the machine. This supplemental conveyor 19 also is provided with individual cup-like members 22 aligned with the cup-like members 10 of the main conveyor 9. The supplemental conveyor in use operates as a means for supporting the heads of the fish which are desired to overhang the conveyor 9 so thatthese heads may be severed by suitable cutting knives.

Journaled in bearings .43, supported by the frame 2 near the center of the machine and at a point above the conveyor 10, is a cutter shaft 24 which is preferably provided with a pair of disc cutting knives 25 positioned to engage the heads and tails of fish carried by conveyor 9.

Said cutter shaft 24 is driven by a chain drive 26 from a shaft 27, which shaft 27 is journaled in bearings supportedby the frame 2 near the pulley shaft 12 and said shaft 27 is provided with a gear 28, engaging the gear wheel 17 of the pulley shaft so "that the shaft is continuously driven during operation. 7

Shortly beyond the disc cutting knives 25 the supplemental conveyor 19 terminates and the machine is provided with an entrail removing mechanism 29 and with a fish grasping mechanism 30. The fish grasping mechanism comprises gripper members 31 of which two areshown, said gripper members being pivoted as indicated at 32 to a bracket 33,

7 supported by the frame 2 of the machine at a position slightly above'the conveyor 9, so that the gripper members 31- may be rocked on their pivots 32,130 engage the fish held in the conveyor pockets 10 during the periods that the conveyor is at rest. The operati mechanism for the gripper arms comprises a pitman arm 34 having a roller 35 operating within a grooveof a rotary cam 36, secured to the shaft 27 which thus operates as a crank shaft in the mechanism.

The groove of the rotary cam 36 is snitably shaped so that upon each revolution of the pulley shaft 12, the gripper members 31 are rocked into engagement with the fish in the conveyor 9 during the period of time that the conveyor is stationary and released just before the engagement of the operating pin or roller with the succeeding radialgroove 14 of the escapement driving cam of the conveyor.

The crankshaft 27 also is provided with a rotary cam 87 connected with a roller on a pitman arm 38, which provides a means for operating the entrail removing mechanism.

The entrail removing mechanism-v comprises a pair of auger-like entrail removing and entangling members 39,fwhich members are,in the maj or part, covered by cylindrical shields or guards 40. The ends of thecylindrical shields or guards are provided with a diamond shape strip 41 passing over the ends of the angers 39, and theiends of the guards or shields 40 are, further provided with slots 42. By this COIlStIUCGlOIl, the entrail removing angers are prevented from cutting into the fish or entrails and the entrails are only drawn into the angers so that they are to a large extent, maintainedtogether in the entrail removingoperations. Spaced from the end of the angers, the guards or shields 40 are provided with side openings 43 from which may be discharged the entrails entering the space between the angers and shields.

The angers and shields pass through guides 44, into a control 130x45. 'Within the control'box 45,(he shields or guards are attached to carriers 46 which operates as a means'fo'r advancing and retracting the angers during operation. The angers have their shanks 47 extending through the carriers 46 and through bearings and guides 48 on the opposite end of the box 45.

The, carriers 46 are shaped so that in the center of said carriers there are received anger driving pinions49 which are rigid with the auger shanks and serve as a means for revolving angers during operation. The auger carriers also support an intermediate pinion 50 which meshes with both of the anger pinions 49 so that if one of said pinions is driven, the other pinion and its auger will likewise be driven;

52 indicates a driving shaft journaled in theen'ds of the box 45 and provided with an elongated gear 53, engaging one of the drivingfgears 49 of the angers and shaped so that the piniongear 49 may be slid relative to the gear 53 without disengaging therefrom. The driving shaft 52 is provided externally of the box 45, with a gear 54, which gear continually engages a gear 55 on the cutter shaft 24.

lt'will thusbe seen that continuously dur- 7 ing operation of the machine, the angers 39 1y slow rate or a rate just sufficient to enable these anger members to entangle the entrails of the fish and draw said entrails mainly in an nncomminuted state into the space between the shields and the angers, where, upon retraction of the anger members, the entire entrails of the fishmay be bodily removed.

The auger carrier 46 is shown as provided with a forwardly extending arm 57 having a rod 58 slidably engaged bythe slotted end of a' rocker arm 59. The rocker arm 59 is mounted upon a shaft 60 jonrnaled in the box and extending up and atright angles to the auger shanks 47. The rockers 59 on the shaft haveanother end connected by a link 62 with the pitman 38 leading to the cam 37 on the crankshaft 27 The cam 37 is snitably shaped so that during the periods the conveyor shaft'9 is stationary, the rocker 59 removing members operative to prevent the entrail removing members cutting the fish.)

- 2. A fish cleaning machine comprising, a

fish holding member, a revolvable entrail removing member, meansfor moving said entrail removing member into and then'ont of the visceral cavity of the fish on said fish holding member, and guard means movable with said entrail removing member operative to prevent said entrail removing member from cutting the fish.

3. In a fish cleaning machine, the combina-l tion with a revolvable and axially movable entrail removing member, a guard for said entrail removing member having an opening atone end of said member/and a discharge port at another portion of said guard.

Signed at Monterey, California, this 24th da of April, 1929, byWEsLnY A. MULLER.

' igned at San Francisco, California, this 26th day of April, 1929, by BURT G. YOUMAN. WESLEY A. MULLER. BURT C. YOUMAN.

I is rocked first to advance the carriers 46' and 3 thereby the angers L3, towards the fish in the i I conveyor pockets 10 and into the visceral cavities of said fish, and then again to retract V the angers 39 from the conveyor pockets 10.,

so that a further motion of the conveyor may be permitted to position additional fish in position to be operated on by the entrail removlng members or angers. 7

With the machine of the present invention,

it is not necessary to accurately position the fish within the pockets of the conveyor 9 with any particular side. of the fish up, since the entrail removing members or angers 39 are mounted on a mechanism positioned to 0perate on the fish when they are on the conveyor at a point considerably spaced from the conveyor sprockets, whereby the angers operate at a point where the conveyor possesses sufiicient flexibility so that'the angers-advancing into the fish-will self-seat or locate the visceral cavities of the fish, whether these visceral cavities are located at the top or bot tom of the fish as it lies in the fish holding members or cups 10. V

While the particular form of fish cleaning machine herein described is well adaptedto carry out the objects of theinventiomvarious ohangesan-d modifications may be made without departing from the invention, and

the invention is ofthe scope of the following claims.

We claim:

, 1. A fish cleaning machine comprising revolvable entrail removing members, means for axially advancing saidentrail removing member during fish cleaning operations while=rotating the same, and a guard for said entrail V 

